I'm sorry I missed the replies in the other thread, but it seems to have been Highlander-ed. So, I would say the OP in this thread has an excellent point, but it seems to mostly apply to professional aspects of the different options. Still, certainly no other isolated physical act strips away so much pretense in a person's life.

Other than that, certainly fighting is ugly, but the beauty in it is expertise, and as already mentioned the truth exposed through it, not in its aesthetics.

As I'm sure you know, Jeet Kun Do translates to the way of the intercepting fist. Not the art of self expression. The fact that Bruce Lee talked about fighting being expressive does not give him a monopoly over all discussions of that topic.

And if it did...well, he's dead, so he can't sue.

OP: I also think there's a dichotomy between the level of exertion. Ballet and other forms of dance, though tremendously difficult and requiring high levels of skill and athleticism, does not put you into the same kind of pressure cookers that martial arts does--being pinned under a large brown belt, or being pummeled by a long-armed puncher, that kind of thing. In martial arts, like you say, you can just put your head down and go balls-to-the-wall.